Panasonic Joins Tesla For U.S. Solar Plant

Tesla Motors Inc. plans to join with Panasonic Corp. to make solar panels at a factory in Buffalo, N.Y., that originally was to be a SolarCity Corp. manufacturing plant reports Cassandra Sweet of The Wall Street Journal.

Tesla's management team said in a blog post Sunday night that the company has entered into a nonbinding agreement with Panasonic to "begin collaborating on the manufacturing and production of photovoltaic cells and modules in Buffalo, New York."

Tesla said it plans to sell electric batteries, along with Panasonic's panels, to residential, commercial and utility customers. SolarCity will sell, finance and install the panels.

The agreement is contingent on approval of Tesla's proposed acquisition of SolarCity in an all-stock deal currently worth about $2.2 billion. Shareholders of the companies, both chaired by entrepreneur Elon Musk, are scheduled to vote on the merger Nov. 17.

Panasonic is a partner at Tesla's Gigafactory battery plant near Reno, Nev. SolarCity has said it plans to make a new product—a roof that generates solar power—at the Buffalo factory. Mr. Musk earlier this month said that both Tesla and SolarCity are involved in the new product, which is set to be unveiled on Oct. 28.

"We are excited to expand our partnership with Panasonic as we move toward a combined Tesla and SolarCity," said Tesla Chief Technical Officer J.B. Straubel in the blog post. He declined further comment through a spokeswoman.

Shuuji Okayama, vice president, Eco Solutions Company of Panasonic, added, "We expect that the collaboration talks will lead to growth of the Tesla and Panasonic relationship."